Misfortune
by Kelekiah Galadrian
Summary: After a new shipment comes in, Yugi helps his grandpa set everything out. As he's checking out the booster packs, he comes across a pair of peculiar cards. Oneshot.


******Lego: **Hello everyone! I'm working really hard on Tears of a Lotus but it is _still _being difficult. In the mean time, I decided to pick up the 100 themes challenge in order to motivate myself to write (heavily influenced by the fact that one of my favorite fanfiction authors, Joey Taylor, is doing it). I've decided to post the canon ones I write (no OCs and such) as separate oneshots here on my account to show that I actually am writing. I hope you enjoy this one! This was an idea that popped in my head when I saw the prompt "misfortune." For now, it's a standalone, but it might have a follow-up chapter just for fun if inspiration strikes (though a certain somebody wants me to do full-length, we'll see about that).

**Disclaimer: **The YuGiOh franchise belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. The Legend of Zelda franchise belongs to Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, and Eiji Aonuma. I own only the story.

_**Misfortune**_

Yugi straightened his t-shirt as he stumbled down the stairs and into the back of the game shop. He'd already eaten breakfast and had even done a little bit of weekend homework; however, Grandpa had gotten a shipment in earlier that morning and needed help unloading and sorting all the new merchandise.

Grandpa stood at the cash register helping a customer and didn't even notice when Yugi came in. Three others waited in line, so the teen slipped quietly into the storage room for the shop—they always stored incoming boxes there when they didn't have time to immediately take care of them. He discovered four labeled boxes in a pile near the door.

As he placed them all where he could see them, the teen took note of the labels—British Games, American Games, Video Games, and Duel Monsters. He opened the British and American boxes first and discovered with a chuckle that most of them were popular board games for families. He dragged the two of them out into the shop and maneuvered his way down the aisles to the proper areas of the store. By the time he finished, Grandpa had one customer left. He nodded toward his grandfather before disappearing back inside the storage room.

The Video Games box contained action figures, posters, movies, and latest releases for the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series. Yugi couldn't help the wide grin that split his face; he'd been waiting for _ages _for them to get to the shop. He quickly dragged the box out to the Wall of Video Games (at least, that's what Yugi had nicknamed it as a kid) where he placed the items in the space previously cleared for them.

Before too long, Grandpa came around from behind the cash register and immediately began to help him. "I really appreciate this, Yugi."

The teen shrugged as he opened and unrolled one of the posters to put on display. "I'm always willing to help, Grandpa." He successfully hid his frown, moving to the front of the store to put the poster up in the front window.

Yugi had had loads more free time ever since he'd won the ceremonial duel and sent Atem back to the afterlife. Sure, he was still often bothered by duelists who wanted his title, but he spent more time at home with his grandfather or doing normal things with his friends. Sometimes, he really missed having the ancient spirit around to liven up his life even though most of that entailed in the endangerment of his life.

The teen shrugged away the melancholic thoughts and returned to help Grandpa with the last of the action figures. They went back to the storage room together to open the final box. It contained copious amounts of merchandise similar to that of those for the video games, especially keychains—Yugi had no idea why they needed so many, but apparently they were more popular than he'd assumed.

His favorite part of the whole box, however, was the large pile of new booster packs Pegasus had finally sent them. Yugi grinned as he pulled the box out into the shop, down the aisle, and right to the front; as soon as he had a moment, he was most definitely getting his hands on them.

They'd only just begun when another handful of customers came in. As the generous store host that he was, Grandpa immediately approached them and helped them navigate the store (they weren't regulars). That left Yugi to fix up the display and add the remaining items to the rest of the store. He finished quicker than expected, probably due to his excitement. With a twinkling smile, Yugi grabbed one of each of the booster packs (3 total) and disappeared up the stairs at the back of the shop—he didn't need to pay since Pegasus always included enough so Yugi could have them.

The teen plopped down on his bed, holding up each packet so he could read the titles: The Fire's Roar, Imperial Light, and Twilight Descends. Yugi opened the first two quickly and wasn't surprised to see the first had a plethora of fire-type monsters and fire-related magic, trap, and spell cards, while the second contained light-based monsters and spells. He paused at the third; he had no idea what to expect.

Yugi twirled the packet carefully then slowly tore it open. A typical amount of cards for a booster packet landed in his lap, but two specifically caught his eye. One contained a simple drawing of a naked imp with skin patterned in light gray and dark green, an ancient stone mask covering half its face, orange-blonde hair in the shape of a fist, and a wicked smirk. The other was very similar in coloration to the imp but portrayed a beautiful woman in what could only be royal robes. The first card was titled Midna the Imp while the second Twilight Princess.

The teen frowned. Twilight Princess's description explained that only when Midna the Imp and the magic card Royal Twilight were combined could she be used, and included an effect. Midna the Imp, however, simply said: _Misfortune follows her wherever she goes. _As he compared the two, Yugi realized the description also fit Twilight Princess rather well—she didn't look directly out of the card, but off to the side, and her lips carried a frown.

The longer he stared at it, the more it gave Yugi chills. Regardless, he decided he liked these two cards—he dug through the pile until he found the accompanying magic card—and chose to put them in his deck. The other cards spoke of monsters from a place called the Twilight Realm and many of them matched Midna the Imp's coloration, though there were a handful that were entirely black with red eyes.

Yugi's grin was silly as he gathered the remaining new cards and stuck them in a drawer on his desk with all the others he'd collected over the years. He had just sat down to reorganize his deck when Grandpa knocked on the door and pushed it open.

"There was a letter in the bottom of that box for you." The elderly male held it out. "It's from Pegasus."

Yugi hopped off the bed to retrieve the letter then dropped back onto his bed. Grandpa left almost as soon as the teen got the envelope open and began to read.

_Dear Yugi-boy,_

_If you are anything like the boy I know you are, you waited until the end of sorting through the booster packs before you took the ones you wanted. If my intuition is correct, you grabbed the last packet of Twilight Descends. Absolutely splendid! This particular copy was meant entirely for you—it contains three extra cards not found in any of the other packs._

_The idea for these cards did not come to me like most of the other designs did. The Twilight Realm manifested itself to me in a dream; I even spoke with Midna! It was an interesting experience, and upon waking, I was inspired to design the cards based upon her world. She wanted only one copy of those three special cards made, so I did as asked. I knew you would be the best person to know of their true value and appreciate their worth. Please treat them as you would your friends._

_Best luck with dueling!_

_Pegasus J. Crawford_

The letter included his elaborate signature under his printed name. Yugi once again looked at the cards he'd been given and felt a glow of warmth in his chest. Somehow he knew Midna was right there, watching him.

As quietly as he could, Yugi whispered, "I will always treasure them." Midna the Imp's grin almost seemed to widen, then the apparition was gone. But the glow remained.


End file.
